Container and container car



March 16,1937. G. c. WOODRUFF 2,073,982

CONTAINER'AND CONTAINER CAR Original Filed Feb. 9, 1954 2 SheetsSheet 1 Graham 6, 14 000911 ff M r h 16, 1937 G. c. WOODRUFFQ 7 2,073,982 7 l CONTAINER AND CONTAINER CAR Orqlginal Filed Fb. 9, 1934 "2 sheets sheet 2 Patented Mar. 16, 1937 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CONTAINER AND CONTAINER CAR Graham 0. Woodrufi, Bronxville, N. Y., assignor to The L. C. L. Corporation, a corporation of Delaware 3 Claims.

This application is a division of my prior application, Serial No. 710,577, filed February 9, 1934, now Patent No. 2,020,628 dated November 12, 1935. a

This invention relates to improvements in container cars and containers designed to be used in connection therewith for shipping sectional loads of various commodities, and particularly for the shipment of pulverulent, granular or liquid commodities which are best shipped or required for certain reasons to be shipped in closed containers, either for the purpose of preventing loss of the material in transit or to protect the material in transit from dust, dirt and other injury and the action of the elements.

One object of the invention is to provide a 'novel construction of container for shipping materials of the character described, such as powder-ed coal, flour, cement, lime, oil or other liquids, etc., in such manner as to'prevent escape of the material or injury thereto in transit as well as to facilitate loading and unloading of the material.

Another object of the invention is to provide a construction of container and container car whereby the containers may be easily and conveniently loaded before or after being placed on the car and unloaded while on the car or after removal from the car;

Still another object of the invention is to provide a container which may be filled by gravity or bycompressed air or other suitable pressure and unloaded by gravity or by compressed air' or other suitable pressure and which is properly positioned on the car to enable these operations to be carried out with ease and facility.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a construction of container car of gondola type and container whereby the discharge outlet 40 of the container and all controlled parts of a pressure loading or unloading means on the container are rendered readily and freely accessible at a side of the car without lifting or changing the position of a container thereon.

Still another object of the invention is to provide means for positioning and holding the container from shifting movement so as to ensure proper placement of the container in position to render the aforesaid parts accessible through an access opening in the side of the car and to maintain such parts and opening in registering position.

With these and other objects in View, the invention consists of the features of construction, combination and arrangement of parts, hereinafter fully described and claimed, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a container car and a set of containers thereon constructed in accordance with my invention.

Fig. 2 is a top plan View of the same.

Fig. 3 is a vertical section through the top of one of the containers.

Fig. 4-. is a similar section through the bottom of one of the containers.

Fig. 5 is a horizontal section on the line 5--5 of Fig. 4.

In carrying my invention into practice, the material to be conveyed from one point to another is designed to be shipped in air-tight containers I, mounted for transporting purposes on a container car 2, which container is provided with means whereby it may be loaded with the material by either gravity or air pressure and also provided with means whereby the material may be discharged therefrom by gravity and/or air pressure through suitable discharge conductors. A longitudinal row or group of such containers i may be mounted in practice in suitable receiving spaces provided upon the container car 2 in such manner that the container units may be individually reached in a ready and convenient manner for loading and unloading purposes. The car 2 herein shown is a container car iof gondola type, having a floor 3 on which the containers I rest and provided with side and end Walls i and 5 which are of suflicient height to prevent displacement of the containers from the car even in the event that any of the individual containers should become unfastened in transit. The car, however, may be one of flat or platform type having suitable means for securing the containers to its floor or platform and suitable means, equivalent to the means herein disclosed, for giving ready access to the discharge outlets and associated parts of the containers. The containers may be of any suitable size and capacity and they may be arranged in longitudinal alinemerit in any suitable manner to allow a certain number of containers, six for example, as shown in the present instance, to be mounted on a car.

Each container l comprises a cylindrical vessel, built as a pressure vessel, and consists of an upright cylindrical shell having a hopper bottom ii and a dished head I, all strongly welded together. To enable this container vessel to be firmly supported on the car floor 3, the cylindrical shell is extended downwardly in the form of a cylindrical base 1' forming a compartment 8 about the conical bottom portion 6. This compartment is conveniently accessible through an opening 9 provided in one of the sides of the base I, which opening may be or not, as desired, closed by a hinged or other suitably mounted door. The parts 6 and E of the container are stiffened by suitable gussets l8 and the part I is provided with an annular series or other suitable arrangement of guiding and positioning retainers H for cooperation with coacting segmental guiding and positioning retaining or holding brackets 52 mounted on the floor or the side walls of the car. These guiding and positioning retainers ll and I2 ensure the proper placing of the containers in their receiving spaces, with their discharge outlets facing either side of the car, as desired, and maintain the containers in such position against longitudinal, transverse or rotational shifting movements on the car. It will be noted that the construction of these retainers ii and I2 is such as to posi- ,tively retain the containers against displacing 1' movements and in such manner that the retainers are free from positive fastening connection with the car, so that the containers are readily removable from the car by proper equipment and without interference when desired. At its top each container is provided with lifting links or loops 1% by means of which it may be engaged by a lifting crane or other hoisting apparatus for convenient transfer from the car to a loading platform, or vice versa, or between a car or loading platform and a ship, or between a car or ship and a transportation truck, thus allowing of the ready transfer of loaded or unloaded containers between sectional platforms or boxes at loading points and transportation vehicles, or between transportation vehicles of different character.

Each container l is provided at its top with a main central filling mouth or inlet M and with an auxiliary filling mouth or inlet l5, which are normally closed by suitable air, water and dust proof caps or closures l5 and H, and which closures, after the container is filled, may be locked or sealed in any approved manner against surreptitious removal. The main inlet Hi provides an inlet of comparatively large size adapting the container to be filled by gravity from a feed chute or the like, while the inlet i5 is of relatively smaller size and designed to receive a flexible tubing or conductor of suitable size through which the container may be filled, when occasion requires, through such conductor by air pressure. The inlets Hi and it are preferably provided with suitable valves it and i5 adapted to open automatically by gravity or spring external pressure when the closures it and ll are removed, but to close under internal pressure. The material is discharged from the container through an outlet in its hopper bottom 6, with which outlet is connected a lateral discharge fitting is adapted for the connection therewith of a suitable discharge conductor. This fitting may be closed by a plug, a valve or other suitable closure HS. Arranged in the compartment 8 so as to be housed and protected thereby are suitable parts or fittings of an air supply system. The parts or fittings shown as applied to each tank consist of an air feed pipe l9 having a valved inlet connection 20 adapted to be coupled to a suitable air supply conductor and from which pipe l9 lead supply branches 2| and 22 connected respectively with the hopper bottom 8 and the interior of the container at the top thereof, whereby air under pressure may be simultaneously supplied to the hopper bottom to loosen up and promote the discharge of the material through the outlet connection l8 and supplied at the top of the container to place a proper head pressure on the body or" the material therein. A valve 23 may be placed in the pipe l9 at its point of connection with the branch 22 to regulate the flow of air through such branch and to cut off the flow whenever desired. The pressure of the air supplied from a suitable source through the pipe l8 may be such as in practice is suitable for discharging the material through a discharge conductor of a required given size and at any desired or predetermined rate. In practice the pressure may be such as is necessary to convey the material through a comparatively long conductor when a receiving bin or the like at a destination point is disposed some distance from the container from which the material is being discharged. In practice the side walls 4 of the car 2 are provided with access openings 24 in transverse alinement with the container receiv ing spaces, and each container, when properly disposed on the car in its receiving space, may have its outlet facing the opening 2Q in one side wall or the other of the car, according to the direction in which the outlet side of the container faces, so that immediate access may be obtained through the registering openings 9 and 2 3 to the hopper discharge outlet and control ling fixtures of the air supply system, while at the same time such outlet and fixtures applied to the base of the container will be protected by the container base 1 and car Walls 3 against injury by contact with extraneous objects in the travel of the container car. It will be observed that in the placing of each container on the car by a crane or other container lifting agent, the guides and retainers El and [2 will automatically center the container as it is being deposited so as to ensure accurate registration of the container opening 5 with the opening 24 in the side wall of the car toward which it faces. Each container may also be provided, if required and found necessary, with a suitably closed filter vent 25 in order to allow vent of air from the container, when it is being filled by air pressure, to prevent the container from becoming air bound and preventing proper feed of the material to the container under air pressure from a pressure source.

The containers constructed in accordance with the invention may be employed for shipping all kinds of pulverulent solid or granular materials or oils or other liquids, and obviously all containers on the car may be loaded with t .0 same material or with difierent materials, as each container contains an individual load. These materials when so shipped will be enclosed in a hermetically sealed container which not only protects the material from escape but also from the access of dust, dirt, moisture and outside air, so that injury to or deterioration of the contents of the container will be effectually prevented. For these and other reasons the containers will be found adapted for the shipment of materials which are undesirably affected by exposure to the atmosphere, since each container may be shipped in a state free or substantially free from air, while its sealing means will prevent undesirable access of atmospheric air. Similarly the containers are also adapted to be employed in shipping materials which are best shipped under a predetermined head pres sure, as, after the container is filled to a desired extent, the air supplying system may be employed to furnish the head pressure required. The container may be filled with solid pulverulent or granular materials by gravity alone or by air pressure, and may be similarly filled with oils or other liquids. In unloading a container filled with a solid pulverulent or granular material which is partially discharged by the force of gravity, it is desirable also to employ air pressure at the top and bottom of the container to loosen up the material at the discharge point and to effect its discharge by gravity and a head pressure of air at the working pressure required. In discharging a liquid from a container, the liquid may be allowed to discharge by gravity, supplemented, when required, by a head pressure of air when it is to be conveyed through a discharge conductor to a more or less distant point. a

It will be evident from the foregoing description that my invention adapts a container to be loaded either before it is placed on the car or loaded after it has been placed on the car, and unloaded either while it is on the car or after having been lifted from the car onto a loading platform or onto a motor truck or the like by which it is conveyed to a point where it is to be unloaded. Thus while all the containers may be loaded at one point either on the car or before being placed on the car, they may be unloaded individually or all at the same time at one station or destination point or different stations or destination points and during the transportation of the car along a given route the containers may be removed at difierent destination points and other filled or empty containers loaded upon the car to take their places. Containers thus constructed may also be transferred from an original transportation car to other transportation cars or ships or trucks, and intermediate transfer platforms or vehicles of all kinds, and unloaded at a final delivery point. An extremely flexible mode of shipping sectional loads of the same or different materials to the same or different destinations is thereby provided, in such manner that substances of the general character set forth subject to damage during shipment may be protected from damage and delivered in the best possible shape to the consignee.

An important feature of the invention resides in the fact that by the described construction and arrangement of the outlets and control connections on the containers and cooperating access openings in the sides of the car the containers on the car may be readily loaded or unloaded without the necessity of raising them 01f the floor of the car, as all filling and discharge connections may be readily reached by attendants from the floor of the car or the ground at one side of the car. Other. advantages of my invention will be readily understood by those versed in the art without a further and extended description.

While the structure disclosed for carrying the invention into practical effect is preferred, it will, of course, be understood that changes in the form, construction and arrangement of parts may be made within the scope of the appended claims, without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.

What I claim is:-

1. A container car for transporting cylindrical containers arranged vertically side by side in a longitudinal row thereon, said car having a flat fioor for supporting the containers, side walls extending above the level of the fioor and provided with transversely alined access openings for exposing the lower portions of containers supported by the floor, and projections on said side walls extending inwardly therefrom and adapted for engagement with the containers for holding said containers from shifting movements longitudinally or transversely of the car and from rotation out of a prescribed position with relation to each other and to said openings wherein access may be had to discharge means in said containers through said openings.

2. A container car for transporting cylindrical containers arranged vertically side by side in a longitudinal row thereon, said car having a flat floor for supporting the containers, side walls extending above the level of the fioor and provided with transversely alined access openings for exposing the lower portions of containers supported by the floor, and substantially V- shaped horizontal projections on said side walls extending inwardly therefrom and adapted for engagement with the containers for holding said containers from shifting movements longitudinally or transversely of the car and from rotation out of a prescribed position with relation to each other and to said openings wherein access may be had to discharge means in said containers through said openings.

3. A container for transporting cylindrical containers arranged vertically side by side in a longitudinal row thereon, said car having a flat floor for supporting the containers, side walls extending above the level of the fioor and each formed of a row of spaced uprights and a rail connecting the uprights at their upper ends, the spaces between the posts of the walls providing transversely alined access openings for exposing the lower portions of containers supported by the floor, and projections on said side walls extending inwardly from said rails and adapted for engagement with the containers for holding said containers from shifting movements longitudinally or transversely of the car and from rotation out of a prescribed position with relation to each other and to said openings wherein access may be had to discharge means in said containers through said openings.

GRAHAM C. WOODRUFF. 

